Exclusive: Angela Bassett Talks London Has Fallen and Her Recent DGA Nom
by Wilson Morales
March 1, 2016
Hitting theaters this week is the action thriller “London Has Fallen,”the sequel to the 2013 worldwide smash hit “Olympus Has Fallen,”starring Gerard Butler.
The visceral intensity springs from a timely premise: after the British Prime Minister passes away, his funeral becomes a target of a terrorist organization to destroy some of the world’s most powerful leaders, devastate the British capital, and unleash a terrifying vision of the future. The only hope of stopping it rests on the shoulders of the President of the United States Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) and his formidable Secret Service head Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), and an English MI-6 agent (Charlotte Riley) who rightly trusts no one.
Also returning are Morgan Freeman as Vice President Trumbull, Angela Bassett as Secret Service Director Lynne Jacobs, Melissa Leo as Defense Secretary Ruth McMillan, Radha Mitchell as Leah Banning, Robert Forster as General Edward Clegg, and Sean O’Bryan as NSA Deputy Director Ray Monroe.
For Bassett, after appearing in so many films, this is actually the first time she’s reprising a character. Although she’s play Betty Shabazz twice in films, it was different projects not connecting with each other. She’s also appeared in different roles in each season she’s done for the TV series, American Horror Story.
Earlier this year, Ms. Bassett was rewarded with her first DGA nomination for her directorial debut, Lifetime’s Whitney, which is based on the life of famed and deceased singer Whitney Houston.
In speaking exclusively with Blackfilm.com, Bassett talks about her character in London Has Fallen, and her recent accomplishment.
Is this the first sequel for you?
Angela Bassett: It is. It’s special. You already have a relationship with the other actors, so you feel that sense of camaraderie and familiarity. It makes it easier that you don’t have to get to know each other. You have an idea and look forward to coming back. Especially when the first film was so successful.
Did you have any idea that the first film would do well enough to warrant a sequel?
AB: Not at all. We thought it would be one and done. We didn’t know that a sequel would be a possibility. Pretty soon after it opened, that became a possibility. Where can the sequel take us? What world would we live in? They started thinking about that and it took them a while to get that straight. They had to figure it out, writing, re-writing, and it’s a wonderful that the film is coming out with all these different hands in the pot. You get this really exciting cohesive action thriller and we’re all ecstatic about it.
Where is Lynne Jacobs at this point? What brings her back in the sequel?
AB: I think she’s been pretty successful as the head of Secret Service. She’s scratched and kicked and she’s highly intelligent. She knows how to get along with people. I think she loves to continue in that position. There’s no reason for any changes there. She understands her men from their strengths and weaknesses and she knows how to navigate through those fields.
As the head of Secret Service, do you think she went through the same process as an agent?
AB: She’s probably started at the White House, on detail there. She probably didn’t get into these dangerous situations but she neutralized them before they happened. I think she was a young agent and came up through the ranks. She probably had a psychology degree because she knows how to deal with people. In that world you have to know how to deal with people and she’s good at it.
In the first film, Lynne was at another location with Morgan Freeman’s character trying to get the president to safety and with this film, she’s in the middle of this chaos. How much fun was it being in the action sequences?
AB: Sitting next to Morgan Freeman was stressful because it’s all about what’s in your head. What you imagine? What’s going on out there? You have Mike Banning in the line and you’re trying to save the day without being right there in the thick of it. With the sequel, I’m exactly in the thick of it with bullets flying by and the airplane wobbling and shrapnel everywhere. It was definitely more fun on the ground.
Congratulations on your DGA nomination. With a honor like that, what does do for your career?
AB: That nomination just blew my mind. I was so excited. It was like the first day of school, first love, Christmas and New Year’s. All of that rolled into one. It was very exciting. It’s the end to uncharted waters, but it was so thrilling and satisfying working with actors and actress, crew and creative people. It was exciting but it was also humbling. I didn’t step in thinking, “I don’t know it all, but I will act like I do.” I thought, “I don’t know it all, and I will ask questions.” I want someone to break it down for me. People were so willing to help me and guide me. When my DP came in, the first things I said was, “I trust you.” I don’t know camera lens and of course, you have to depend on one another to take this journey of telling this story about people. I want to do it again. Actually, I will be directing an episode of the series that I do, American Horror Story. That’s one of the great things that came out from the nomination.
How exciting is it to come back on the series each season in a different role?
AB: It’s a great compliment that they ask you back. You’re working with Kathy Bates, Sarah Paulson and Dennis O’Hare; as well as all the guest stars that come through. It’s fantastic to know that you have a job. In a business where it’s so iffy and one never knows what’s coming next. It could be unsettling for a lot of people. I just try to enjoy it when I’m working and when I’m not working. You’re still growing and looking for work.
From directing, acting and producing, how do you relax when there’s no camera on you?
AB: That’s about 4am or 5am. (Laughs). There seems to be some down time. There’s a perception that you’re go, go, go, especially when people have seen you in the movies, on TV in an old film, in a magazine or at an event, but there is some down time.
If one didn’t see “Olympus Has Fallen,” what’s a good reason to see “London Has Fallen”?
AB: It’s the first one to the tenth power. The stakes are raised. The stakes are higher. The landscapes are bigger. We’re out of the White House. We’re taking on the whole city of London. It’s thrilling, exciting and an adrenaline ride that grabs you by the throat, by your shoulders and you just hang on to your seats and don’t let go until the very end. You invest in the characters. You can relate to them. It’s not just things blowing up for the sake of blowing up. There’s humor, there’s pathos and there’s hope. There’s redemption and there’s heroes. No matter what we go through, that thing about human nature where you’re still standing with your last breathe, you stand tall and you’re going to make it for another day. It’s more exciting than the first than anything you have ever seen. You won’t be disappointed.
